Quote:
Originally Posted by Ambalanche
OK so Rick goes, Who would you replace him with and why? This is what I haven't heard anything about.
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So now you have to be an expert in industry and business and all possible candidates out there to be justified in critcizing Mr. Wagoner. Wow, Nice Guy Rick really
is teflon...!
Before even waiting for rozz' answer, you had your own. "There is no one to replace him with". I've heard of company loyalty before, but that's taking it to a new level.
Loyalty to GM does not mean putting tape over your mouth when there have been serious management missteps and the company is on the financial brink.
Actually, though, rather than Rick, I'll shock everyone and say replace Bob Lutz. Or have him defer to a much younger, tech-crazed modern car geek who loves small 4-cylinder powered cars when it comes to that growing part of GM's portfolio. Because Bob's off-the-cuff remarks show he has no clue, or just doesn't want to see car culture move in a direction that he's unfamiliar with (or that he thinks won't be profitable enough). "The customer doesn't know what they want - until we send them a flyer for a shiny new 8-passenger $40,000 crossover" - that kind of garbage.
Seems to me that Rick has done a decent - if not stellar - job of managing the money where he can with all of GM's many challenges, such as the UAW (I'm sure Buickman could correct me there), given what GM has on lots to sell to customers. He's not the "product czar", and product focus is behind much of GM's woes. Bob should have been "styling czar" because that's where his strength has been.
Bob Lutz' apparent disdain for small cars at news conferences is behind some of their market missteps, I'm sure of it (well, as sure as an armchair quarterback behind his keyboard can be
). Let Lutz continue to manage the big cars and big horsepower that he apparently loves so much, or 1960's roadster-alikes such as the Solstice. Let him live in GM's past where gas was cheap and SUV profits were huge, and give him a protégé who is eager (not foot-dragging with a fake smile) to attack GM's future beyond a limited number of $40,000 Volts.